


Breathe Again (You Help Me)

by Bear Works (Achrya)



Series: Bearmance [6]
Category: Kuroko no Basuke | Kuroko's Basketball
Genre: Alpha/Beta/Omega Dynamics, Alternate Universe - College/University, Alternate Universe - Romance Novel, Animal Transformation, Crack Treated Seriously, Dual Sex Omegas, Fake/Pretend Relationship, Getting Together, Heartbreak, Implied Himuro Tatsuya/Murasakibara Atsushi, Infidelity, M/M, Minor Violence, Moving On, Non-Traditional Alpha/Beta/Omega Dynamics, Past Abuse, Past Aomine Daiki/Kuroko Tetsuya, Past Kagami Taiga/Himuro Tatsuya - Freeform, Past Kiyoshi Teppei/Makoto Hanamiya, Sexual Content, Were-Creatures, tropey
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-12-08
Updated: 2018-12-08
Packaged: 2019-09-14 11:49:37
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,559
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16912323
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Achrya/pseuds/Bear%20Works
Summary: In a perfect world first loves would be last loves, childhood friends would never part ways, and everyone would end up happily ever after. But the world isn't perfect; Kagami and Kuroko know that all too well. It's the loss of love that brings them both to Ursine, a quiet community of bear shapeshifters, and nearby Seirin college. Neither is that interested in the other but circumstances (and Kagami's inability to file paperwork) bring them together time and again.Hyuuga wouldn't say he's given up on love, at the ripe old age of 22, exactly. Just that he has more important things going on and plans to have more important things going on for the rest of his life. It's a choice, is all. One Kiyoshi, a year out of a situation he doesn't want to think about but can't quite leave completely buried, understands intimately. Sometimes things that get broken just can't be fixed and that's fine.They all agree a new relationship is the last thing they need, and no way to fix old hurts, but maybe...maybe it wouldn't hurt any either?





	Breathe Again (You Help Me)

**Author's Note:**

> So. This is part of a project started in response to some harqualin-esq romance novels I read (with titles like Bear-llionare and Bear-lebrity, where wearbears/bear shifters fall in love with thicc ladies) that made me want to do my own tropey romance where bears fall in love with thicc gentlemen. It's actually part of a big crossover universe. You'll see characters from other fandoms and references to events happening in other stories, but you don't need to know those fandoms or read those stories to understand things (in fact feel free to pretend they're OCS). 
> 
> Kuroko and the GoM are felines (well. Akashi is a hyena but...) Kagami and most of Seirin are bears. 
> 
> I happen to think assbabies, and the potential therein, are stupid so omegas all have dual genitalia, IE: Penis, Vagina, and asshole. If eventual vaginal sex is your squick this isn't for you.

 

Aomine was the center of attention, as he almost always was. He looked good in his suit, standing tall above his adoring fans, dark blue of his suit jacket and pants lying nicely against the brown of his skin, fabric tailored to fit broad shoulders and a narrow waist, hair freshly cut, and that infuriating smirk of his, the one that showed sharp upper and lower canines, firmly in place. The bright lights overhead seemed to focus on him and even in the plush surroundings of the banquet hall, crammed full of well dressed bodies, lit with crystal chandeliers and twinkling candles, tables and windows dressed in rich fabrics  He was very much the image of a desirable alpha, strong, attractive, and capable of commanding a room just by being in it. 

He shone brightly, and everyone else seemed just a little dimmer in comparison. And Tetsuya, tucked back in his corner and sipping a glass of too sweet champagne, was perhaps the dimmest of them all. 

Or maybe he was getting maudlin. It was hard not to feel that the world was a little bleak, and himself little more than a shadow in it, while watching his future mate flirt his way through their engagement party. They were meant to be doing this side by side, Kuroko’s parents had even picked out a suit with a shirt in that same dark blue of Aomine’s suit and placed dyed flowers so dark blue they were nearly black in his lapel so they would match, but Tetsuya had faded quickly to the background, forgotten in spite of the occasion.  

It was a ridiculous party anyway. He and Aomine has been promised to each other for years, since they were children growing up in the Teiko forest together, and Tetsuya didn’t see much point in celebrating just because the mating ceremony was coming up. But then it wasn’t meant to be about announcing the engagement or even celebrating it, not really. The purpose of this party was to dispel the rumors of disharmony between himself and Aomine, a last desperate effort by their families to assure the community that all was right with the Aomine heir and the youngest Kuroko omega. 

It wasn’t a good look for either family if they were to come apart now, not when so much had been invested in the merging of the two powerful families and the wedding was now only months away. Tetsuya would look as if he was a lesser omega, unable to hold the interest of the alpha who’d once professed to love him, and Aomine as a lesser alpha for abandoning his future mate, and their families would have to carry that shame. They’d been seen as a unit for too long, since before Aomine has stepped into the light like he had, maturing into one of (if not the) strongest young alpha in the forest. 

Since he’d outgrown Tetsuya. 

Or maybe it was Tetsuya who hadn’t been able to keep up. Feline omegas, like he was, did trend towards the shorter and lighter side compared to the omegas of other races, but Tetsuya knew he was far from the ideal even by those standards. The omegas who flocked to Aomine these days were always a little taller, were slight in build but in a way that emphasized strength and allowed for the eye catching curves alphas were drawn to. Wider hips, thicker thighs, and even the male presenting omegas were prone to carrying some weight in their chests and ass; innate signs of fertility that were meant to appeal to their complimentary dynamic. 

They also near universally had scents that were not just strong and told everyone of the strength they possessed, but were sweet and tempting. A proper omega, with a strong bloodline and breeding, was something that appealed not just to an alpha’s eye but their nose and tongue as well, or so Tetsuya had always heard. 

Tetsuya however lacked in most of those areas, to the surprise of everyone. The Kuroko family was known for its fertility, and the increasingly rare tendency towards birthing litters, so he stood out even among his own as small and nearly scentless. He’d come to terms with that, not caring much that his many brothers and sisters were so much closer to the ideal, but watching Aomine smile and pay attention to other omegas, the pretty ones who wore their shirts lower cut and dresses tight and slinky, who draped themselves in necklaces and collars that drew the eye to their necks, who shamelessly worked up a sweat to make their scents that much stronger and pushed into the space of an alpha they knew was taken in all but ceremony, was...harder that dealing with his family had ever been. 

There was nothing pleasant about seeing Aomine lavish attention on the more proper omegas around them, shining his light on them like he’d once done with Tetsuya (those warm looks, the easy conversations and touches, the friendship that had existed before anything else, was all gone now), and knowing there was nothing he could do to change it. There was no pulling Aomine back, no matter what the older omegas tried to tell him about being more appealing and changing things about himself to lure his alpha back (“Seduce him,” His older sister Toko had told him while getting him ready for tonight. “Once he’s in your bed again just...do what we’re good at. A few kits will keep him from roaming.” “Try being a little softer.” His omega father liked to say with that fretful frown Tetsuya knew so well on his face. “I don’t know how you ended up such a dour boy.”) and, honestly, he didn’t want to bother trying. 

He had other plans. 

“Ugh.” Satsuki appeared from the crowd in a swirl of teal and white fabric, hem of her gown and underskirts swishing around her legs and heels clicking against the polished floor. She all but threw herself into the chair next to Tetsuya, arms crossed over her chest and lower lip jutting out. Kise was close behind, as he so often was, and folded himself into the chair at Tetsuya’s other side; he didn’t look any happier than Satsuki did. 

Tetsuya blinked mildly at them both and sipped his drink again, waiting for one of them, Satsuki most likely, to let out the anger he could see building up in them. Her face flushed deeper and deeper red and her eyes narrowed more and more, darting between Tetsuya and Aomine, now moved on to another gaggle of starry eyed omegas and beta females, before she finally bared her teeth and slouched back. 

“Tetsu-kun, how can you just watch him act like that?” She demanded, stomping her foot. “You should go over then and...and punch him!” 

“Or let me do it.” Kise added, looking far too eager to do just that for Tetsuya’s tastes. 

Tetsuya smiled and shook his head. They didn’t really mean it, they were as much Aomine’s friends as they were his (more Aomine’s, in Satsuki’s case). They were just frustrated by him and the way he’d started acting, pulling away from them the same as he had Tetsuya, all but openly stating that he was above them now and saw them as annoyances, at best. The only person he seemed to really treat the same was Satsuki, and even that was starting to change, little by little. 

“It’s fine. I’m not upset.” 

They exchanged a look over his head, unhappy and sympathetic in equal measures, before he was graced with two forced smiles. 

“You’re right, there’s no reason to be upset. It doesn’t mean anything.” Satsuki said, nodding her head resolutely. “I know you’ll get through to him eventually, Tetsu-kun. ...I think you’re the only one who can.” 

He looked down into his class. “Maybe.” 

“Or maybe it’s time you broke things off. Who cares what your family will thik?” Kise sat up straighter, mouth setting into a determined line. “You have other options you know! There are other alphas, who know you’re amazing. I think you- I mean, even Momocchi knows it!” 

She giggled. “You should marry me instead. We’ll be an omega power couple.” 

Tetsuya smiled again, fleetingly, before offering his glass to Kise and pushing himself up from his chair. “I’m going to head home.” 

They exchanged another look but, before they could give voice to the protests and concern he read on their faces, he was moving away and melting into the crowd. It seemed like the whole of their territory had come to the Aomine manor for the occasion, likely to be able to confirm for their own eyes the rift between himself and Aomine or maybe just to enjoy the ridiculously large cake Tetsuya’s alpha father had commissioned for the occasion, seven tiers with fondant in varying shades of blue, sprinkled with sugar crystals that gleamed like jewels, that sat on a table in the center of the room. 

Tetsuya was supposed to stay long enough to cut it and accept gifts from well wishers, and to publically playing the adoring and doting omega, but no one would notice if he wasn’t. Aomine would take charge of the crowd, wipe any thought of Tetsuya from their minds until much later, and after that everyone would expect him to retreat to his small apartment for a few days. He would be undisturbed, presumed to be upset and hiding away in shame. Even his parents and siblings would steer clear to let him lick his metaphorical wounds. 

Untrue, but he wasn’t above using public misconceptions to his advantage. Or, as much as he hated to do it, his friends. Kise and Satsuki would report that he’d gone home upset, setting everything in motion and getting him the time he needed to be far from Teiko before anyone realized he’d never gone home. 

He expected to leave unnoticed, as he so often was, and yet wasn’t that surprised to find Akashi waiting by the front door. Akashi had a way of being around when something was taking place, and the more people wanted to avoid him the more likely he was to pop up. 

He and Tetsuya had that in common, actually, though in Tetsuya’s case it was generally that he’d been there from the start and had been overlooked. 

“Kuroko.” Akashi was leaning against the wall, mismatched eyes half lidded and bright with some emotion Tetsuya couldn’t find the words to describe. “Leaving already? You haven’t even cut the cake yet.” 

“I’m going home.” Tetsuya said. “I think Aomine can handle things without me.” 

“Aomine.” Akashi drew the other man’s name out, stretching the syllables until they became so many nonsensical sounds, then leaned back against the wall, lips twitching upward. “When did you stop calling him Daiki?” 

Kuroko said nothing. He wouldn’t have answered even if he’d had something worthwhile to respond with. On top of having a knack for being where the action was Akashi had a way of seeing right through people, able to spot the best, the worst, and the things a person wanted to keep hidden. Kuroko had never minded that, or Akashi’s intensity and shrewdness when it came to using or discarding people, about his friend much. Others whispered about Akashi being everything from a little odd to creepy to ‘just not right’, but Akashi was one of the few people who wasn’t looking at him with pity in their eyes these days, something that meant...well, it meant something. 

Though, to be fair, Kuroko wasn’t sure Akashi had the emotional capacity to feel bad for someone else. 

“Train station or airport?” Akashi asked finally. 

Tetsuya pressed his lips together, eyes darting back towards the banquet hall. The idea of denying it occurred but faded almost immediately; lying to Akashi was pointless. If he knew then he knew. 

“Bus.” He’d considered all of his options carefully and finally settled on the one that would leave less of a trial to follow. Planes needed ID, using the train to get anywhere meaningful would take a large part the funds he’d been slowly withdrawing from his account these past months, and using his card to get tickets would show up on his account, something his parents controlled and were known to keep an eye on. They wanted him to be independent, but not too independent, so he had a part time job at the family business and they had their hands in everything that belonged to him. That was how most omegas of means lived in their community, and he imagined most never thought to question it. 

The bus ticket could be bought with cash, wouldn’t drain his funds, and there’d be no trail left behind. It would take longer, and being stuck with so many humans and none of his own kind would be...different but Tetsuya would manage. He would have to, to disappear the way he planned. 

Akashi reached into his jacket for something and, wordlessly, offered a large white envelope to Tetsuya. He stared at it, unsure of what was being held out to him, then looked up at the other man in silent question. 

“You know the Bear community, Ursine? By the shifter run college.” 

Tetsuya nodded; of course he did. Ursine was a closed community, like theirs was, and getting in as an outsider was near impossible without marrying in, being adopted in, or getting a pass from the ruling council for some reason. Passes only happened after careful deliberation, interviews, and having a compelling reason. The college near by however was more lax, accepting any shifter who wanted in with special preference towards omegas. With the way they were built, decidedly different from any human, human schools weren’t an option without risking exposure like they were for betas and alphas. But Seirin College was different. Even with though it had a booming human population things were set up to keep shifters hidden in spite of anatomy differences, heats, and other things. 

Anyone who got into the college got a pass into Ursine to live or work temporarily.

He’d wanted to go, had gone so far as sending his transcripts from Teiko’s only high school, but his parents hadn’t been interested in him leaving. To the contrary, they’d been pushing him to hurry up and get married and settle down since his eighteenth birthday and had spent the two and a half years since then less than impressed with his life choices. ‘What good is college for raising a family anyway?’ his omega father had asked when dismissing the idea for the last time. ‘Focus more on pleasing Daiki! If you were doing that…’  

“I know someone there, at the college. They pulled your transcript and application backup and put in a good word to get you a on campus position, to offset come costs.” Tetsuya’s eyes widened; Akashi had done what? How? He knew Akashi’s father had connections in other communties, and that sometimes Akashi used them for his own ends, but this...this didn’t even sound entirely legal. “It’s too late in the year for you get a dorm room but there’s an omega boarding house in Ursine with an open room that a lot of students stay at. This is a train ticket, money, and a key to a locker at the station closest to Ursine. You’ll know what to do next when you open it.”

“I-” Tetsuya started only for Akashi to roll his eyes and slap the envelope against his chest. 

“Don’t disappoint me by getting caught before this gets interesting Kuroko. I’m curious to see how it turns out.”

\---

Taiga frowned at the building before him. He’d been born here, spent the first four years of his life within its walls with his parents, and remembered exactly none of it. Logically he knew that was a strange thing, who really remembered those early years, and yet standing there felt strange. Not in a ‘I almost remember this way’ but in a lonely, hollow way. His life had started here, and now it was being placed in his hands by his father, and yet it was no different to him than any other building in the world. 

Or, maybe, he was letting other things get into his head. 

Probably that. Taiga had, admittedly, never been good at keep the emotions he felt about one thing from coloring how he felt about stuff, and was getting even worse lately. His temper, always something of an issue, was becoming even more easily roused than it had been at the height of his shitty teenage years. Lately every day had been a flashback to being fifteen, furious at the world, and ready to get in the face of anyone who looked at him funny. He’d been looking for a challenge back then, tired of being surrounded by people who couldn’t match up, but he’d eventually mellowed out. 

Until now. Until Tatsuya had-

“Hey!” A voice shouted from behind him. He turned, duffle bag hanging from his shoulder swinging around and slapping against his side, to find the source. 

No one around here should know him, he hadn’t been near Ursine in nearly two decades, nor should anyone be expecting him as far as he knew. He didn’t have family here anymore, and the proof of that was in the rundown state of the Kagami house. Single storied, shapes like a boxy U with a courtyard and bond in the center as well as a bunch of small buildings in the back of the grounds, and at one time surrounded by a tall wooden gate, it was clear it had one been eye catching and stately. Now it was a mess, paint peeling, windows on the front facade broken in some places and so dingy in others they might as well have been painted mud brown, grass and weeds grown so high they were choking what looked to have once been flower beds and twisted all up in the gate, prying the boards apart, dragging them down. The doors, once red but now a dusty dingy brown, of the gate were wide open and looked to be on their last legs, barely hanging onto their rusted hinges. The gravel pathway was more plant matter than visible stone. 

No one had made any attempts to maintain this place, smack in the middle of the Seirin neighborhood (sharing its name with the close by college) at the edge of Ursine, in years, and yet there was someone heading right his way. An angry someone. Maybe they thought he was a thief or something? Though why someone would want to rob such a shithole was beyond him. Not that the rest of the street looked any better, all the buildings and their surrounding land had seen better days from what he could tell. 

The man headed towards him was shorter than his was but not small by any means, with short dark hair, sharp features, and steely gray eyes behind glasses. He was had the build of an omega, muscular and strong but with the prominent curvy softness at the hips, thighs, and stomach that bear shifters of that dynamic usually possessed. 

He smelled omega too, when he was close enough for Taiga to get a whiff of him. A little sweet, but mostly his scent was earthy and woodsy, clean and bright. Strong. Really strong. Taiga had a nose better than most, that gave him insight into the strength and potential of others, more so than any other shifter he’d ever met was capable of, and this omega was something serious. 

“You’re Kagami Taiga, right?” 

So much for no one expecting him. “I-yes?” 

“Great. Your father said you would be here today.” The man squinted up at him, as if searching for something then, with a shrug, brandished a folder at Taiga. “This is a list of repairs the boarding house and the beta apartments need, in order from most pressing to least. There’s some paperwork, for renewing leases, my owed back rent, and transfers of power from me to you, you’ll need to drop them at your father’s lawyer by the end of the week and pick up the tax forms-”

“Uh.” 

“I don’t know how you are at repairs but there’s a list of handymen in town to consider, with some reviews, as well as the number of plumbers, electricians, and landscapers.” The man continued, ignoring Taiga and his swiftly mounting confusion. “And there’s a new tenant coming in on the train. You’ll need to leave now to get him, keys to the truck are under the visor.” 

“...” Taiga looked in the direction the omega was pointing, made note of the older pickup truck across the street, and nodded without thinking. Then, blinking, shook his head. “Wait, what? Who are you? Why are you telling me this?” 

“Who- oh. I’m Hyuuga. I’ve been running the omega and beta boarding houses for three years now, with Riko,” He frowned slightly. “Not that I wanted the job but someone had to. But now you’re here and, since the building belongs to your family, you’re in charge.” 

“I’m what?!” 

“Don’t be late getting that new tenant. I think his name was Kuroko.” Hyuuga said, leaning down to balance the folder on top of Kagami’s other bag. “Good luck.” 

And with that he was gone, stalking back across the street into the multi-storied building directly across, the only one on the street that wasn’t a complete mess, leaving a bewildered Taiga gaping at his back. 

One phone call to his father (“You thought I was just giving you the house? Honestly Taiga, it won’t kill you to do a little work while you’re running away from your problems, and it will get that Hyuuga off my back about repairs.”) and a forty-five minute drive later Kagami was waiting at the train station one town over. And waiting. And waiting. People, humans, milled past him on their way too and from the train platforms, some stopping to give him lingering looks but most not paying him any more attention than they would a crack in the pavement. He noticed them only to dismiss them, scentless and without any form of ‘presence’ to register as they were, and keep looking through the ever shifting crowd for the man he was supposed to be picking up. He, whoever he was, should have been easy to find. Another shifter would always stand out in a crowd of humans, especially an omega one. They all had a unique scent and feel to them, and as an alpha Kagami’s senses were that much more attuned to omegas so even the weakest of one should have been a beacon of scent in a sea of nothingness. 

And yet thirty minutes and a much thinner crowd later he was still waiting. He looked around the empty lobby, frowning hard. Was this supposed to be a joke or something? Hazing the new guy in town by sending him on a wild goose chase? Was he going to go back and have that Hyuuga guy waiting to laugh in his face? Revenge for his family neglecting the properties they were supposed to be running? 

Or maybe he’d just missed the guy? There weren’t many ways to get to Ursine, just driving and walking, but a shifter could make the walk without getting too tired even in their human skin, and once it was dark enough to change it’d be an easy enough task. That seemed-

“Hello?” 

Taiga yelped and jumped back, heart jumping up into his throat in an attempt to choke him. The person who’d addressed him, short with pale blue hair pushed back from an expressionless face, dark blue eyes that blinked at him placidly, dressed casually in an oversized hooded sweatshirt and jeans. Scentless, as humans were, and thus barely on Taiga’s radar and yet it was still unthinkable that someone had gotten not just close, but right up in his personal space without him realizing it was happening. 

It was one thing to not scent a person, or to somehow not hear them, but this guy was right in his face! How could he have missed that!?! 

“Where did you come from?!” 

“I’ve been here the whole time. I saw you come in.” He lifted one shoulder in a half-hearted shrug; his sweatshirt slipped down to hang from the shoulder, exposing the thick strap of a tank top underneath and pale skin. “I wasn’t sure you were here for me or not. You are Kagami, aren’t you?” 

Taiga’s eyebrows jumped up. “How do you know that?” 

The blue haired man looked down at the phone in his hand (A small boxy flip phone of all things), consulting something on the screen. “I was told you’d be coming to pick me up and take me to Ursine.” 

Taiga sputtered. Take...this guy?? To Ursine? He knew some humans lived there, the ones married to shifters or who had a skill useful enough to let them in and go through the effort of hiding the nature of most of it’s inhabitants away, but he was picking someone up for the Omega House. Humans couldn’t be omegas, and this guy was no shifter. Not even part shifter, or one of those ‘mostly humans but with enough blood to gain some shifter traits’ types, not that Taiga had meet a lot of those but enough to know they carried some trace of a scent. 

This guy was a total blank. In fact he was even more blank that the humans sitting or walking through the lobby; they at least carried traces of sweat, perfume, soap, or food but this guy...was nothing. Beyond having a weak presence, he had no presence at all. A complete void. 

How could anyone be so weak? 

He didn’t look much like an omega either. Short, skinny judging by the way his sweatshirt hung off his frame and the sharpness of his exposed shoulder. Most of the bear omegas Taiga had grown up around would tower over and be able to snap this poor guy in two.  

“You’re an omega?” He blurted. 

Another blink. “Yes.” 

“You can’t be! You’re so...small. And you smell-” Taiga stopped, acutely aware of how he was saying had to sound when the man’s lips flattened into a thin line and one of his eyes twitched.  “Ahh, wait, I don’t-” 

“We should go.” The man turned away from him. “Before someone overhears us.” 

Taiga cast a furtive look at the handful of people around them, quickly confirming that they were indeed all human (probably? He was less certain now) and that talking about scents and status was probably not for the best. “Right. Where are your bags?” 

The man glanced at him over his shoulder, eyes dark and pupils slitted for in instant before returning to normal. “I don’t have anything else.” 

Taiga looked down at the small backpack hanging from his shoulder back up to the omega. “Nothing else?” 

“No.” Short, clipped, leaving no room for further question or for Taiga to do anything but move to catch up and lead the way to the truck. 

It was a very long, very quiet, ride back to Ursine. 

**Author's Note:**

> Next Chapter: Hyuuga has a fucking headache and can already tell Kuroko and Kagami are going to be trouble. Riko isn't as sympathetic as he'd like.


End file.
